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I'm trying to translate a poem from English to German, and the missing line is:

I've heard some talk, they say you think I'm fine.

I've rendered They say you think I'm fine as Man sagt du liebst auch mich.

But I need something for I've heard some talk.

Could I use a construction using the word Gerücht?

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  • I've corrected the German title of your question. In German there is no title case.
    – splattne
    Jun 13, 2011 at 21:16
  • @splattne: Good to know. Danke.
    – Tom Au
    Jun 13, 2011 at 21:37
  • We say in Austria "das Gemunkel" :)
    – user19546
    Dec 21, 2015 at 14:38

3 Answers 3

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My proposal:

Es gibt Gerüchte, ...

or

Ich hab davon gehört, ...

An elegant translation for "they say" is "es heißt":

Es heißt, du glaubst es gehe mir gut.

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  • @splattne: I thought so. But I had just learned the word "Geruchte," two days ago on this site, and wasn't sure how to use it. Thanks. It now reads..."Es gibt Gerucht', Man sagt du liebst auch mich."
    – Tom Au
    Jun 13, 2011 at 21:21
  • But "du liebst mich" means "you love me"; that's quite different than "you think I'm fine", isn't it? Or is it dichterische Freiheit (poetic license)?
    – splattne
    Jun 13, 2011 at 21:26
  • @splattne: Poetic license. Actually, the slang, "You think I'm fine" is an understated, but parallel construction to "This guy's in love with you" in the song. In another translation, I translated You are my life, my love, my all," as "Du bist mein Leben, meine Liebe, mein SCHATZ." (But the previous line was Sommer und Fruhling, Winter und Herbst.) I thought Schatz rhymed better with Herst, than "alle," as well as being more "German."
    – Tom Au
    Jun 13, 2011 at 21:31
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    @Tom: And you also can't leave away the dots over the "ü" of "Gerüchte". They are not just some adornment to the "u", it's really so that "ü" is a different letter. I can guess that it's non-trivial to get an "ü" on your keyboard, but see this meta post: Wie schreibt man Umlaute und scharfes S auf nichtdeutschen Tastaturen?
    – Hendrik Vogt
    Jun 14, 2011 at 6:23
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    @thei Gerüchte does not necessarily have negative touch. For example: "Es gibt Gerüchte, dass im Herbst das neue iPhone erscheinen wird." Though I agree that it's not the most beautiful word to use in a poem.
    – splattne
    Jun 14, 2011 at 7:05
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Es heißt,..

I consider a good approach

There is also

Man munkelt...

and also one might use

Sie sagen...

for I've heard some talk, they say.. which implicates the speaker heard it by someone, somehow. Sie does not need to be determined more closely.

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  • +1 für munkeln - rettet die vom Aussterben bedrohten Wörter! :)
    – Takkat
    Feb 28, 2014 at 12:13
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Ich habe gehört. (standard German)

In Tirol, one would say something like

Ich hob kaeth.

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  • Are you sure that this is an idiomatic translation?
    – user6191
    Oct 11, 2014 at 1:05

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